ST - 1

“Honestly, Assistant Manager Song Hee-jin, she’d be a catch as a girlfriend, but not as a wife, don’t you think?”

The World Electric Vehicle Expo in Ilsan’s exhibition hall.

Hee-jin, who had briefly left her booth to grab a coffee and take a breather, turned pale as she overheard the terrible words being spoken by people from another department behind her.

“It’s practically been proven by Section Chief Park Myung-ho. He dated Assistant Manager Song Hee-jin for three years and is marrying Deputy Manager Choi Joo-yeon. What does that tell you? It must mean there’s a significant flaw with Song Hee-jin.”

The aftermath of the office romance was brutal. Her ex-boyfriend, whom she dated for three years, saying it was too early to think about marriage, had proposed to a new woman just three months after meeting her.

She had vaguely suspected that she was at the center of the rumors, but actually hearing the gossip directly made the hand holding her coffee tremble uncontrollably.

“Is she like a log in bed?”

“Pretty girls can be unenthusiastic.”

“Right? If that’s not the reason, then it’s hard to explain how he could date her for three years and then marry someone else right after breaking up.”

“Exactly. Marriage isn’t about looks. If your sexual chemistry is good, you can fight all you want and still end up at the wedding hall in no time.”

Every single sentence they uttered was the worst, making it difficult to even list where things went wrong. Like carrying celebrity gossip, the male employees freely evaluated Hee-jin and shamelessly commented on her private life, their conversation becoming increasingly outrageous.

Even though it was a male-dominated company with a significantly larger number of male employees, she never imagined they would engage in such vulgar talk about a subordinate with so much seniority.

She was already in her third year at the company. The last shred of lingering affection she had for the company vanished in that moment.

“By the way, Team Leader Kim. Are you even thinking about lining up for a woman who’s all used up? I don’t think so. Section Chief Park must have licked and sucked her dry. You’ll feel queasy every time you think about that, won’t you?”

“General Manager. What’s wrong with easy? If she’s easy for me too, I’d just be grateful.”

“Get a grip. Do you think you’re the only one trying to poke around and see if you can get with her?”

“Really? Have you heard something?”

The behind-the-scenes talk, clearly bordering on sexual harassment, made her blood boil.

It was her first time experiencing something like this, and unsure how to react, she hesitated. Just then, a languid low voice drew her attention. It seemed there was someone else behind the pillar, out of Hee-jin’s line of sight.

“These pathetic bastards are really something, making such a fuss.”

The one muttering the curse words was none other than JK Motors’ Corporate Strategy Division Planning Team Leader Cha Shin-woo.

Even though they were from another department, the moment Team Leader Cha Shin-woo swore at the Battery Business Division General Manager and his group, a sudden silence fell over the noisy entrance of the exhibition hall.

“Fuck, listening to this filth is making my ears rot.”

Although he usually acted arrogantly towards his colleagues, as if looking down on them, seeing Team Leader Cha Shin-woo casually spewing profanities was so unfamiliar that Hee-jin stared at him blankly for a moment, stunned.

Cha Shin-woo’s distinct features, strong jawline, and hair shining brilliantly in the sunlight were reminiscent of a male lead in a youth movie that had just stepped out of a magazine spread. In contrast, his broad shoulders and large frame captivated the attention of many women.

There wouldn’t be a woman whose heart wouldn’t flutter at the sight of his tall, slender figure, easily over 190cm, looking sharp in a suit, and his smile as warm as the sunlight.

The curse words he spat out with his refined face created a dissonance, yet they were strangely threatening, making it feel unreal. Even the way he flicked his cigarette butt with his fingers looked precarious, like a scene from a movie.

“What did you just say?”

“Why? Feeling shitty, General Manager? That’s too bad. Seeing these bastards badmouthing my department’s employee makes me feel even shittier.”

Seeing Team Leader Cha Shin-woo continue to curse and speak informally even to General Manager Lee Seok-joon’s polite address, General Manager Lee’s eyes flashed with anger.

“What? Who is that guy?”

“That’s Team Leader Cha Shin-woo from the newly formed Planning Team.”

An unusual inter-affiliate personnel transfer. The transfer order from JK Electronics, a core part of the group, to JK Motors, which was facing business withdrawal, was practically a de facto forced resignation.

According to people, Team Leader Cha Shin-woo, who had supposedly taken the blame for a mistake made by the executives, would spend a short period of exile at JK Motors and then return to the strategy department at JK Electronics once things were resolved.

She didn’t know why he had received such a demotion-like transfer, but she was certain that if she wanted to live her company life quietly, getting involved with Cha Shin-woo, who was attracting everyone’s attention, would be bad news.

The rumor that he had powerful backing seemed to be true. Watching Cha Shin-woo try to stand up to the Battery Business Division General Manager, who was much higher in rank, made Hee-jin’s head spin.

“You little punk! Hey! What did you say!”

Cha Shin-woo lightly brushed off General Manager Lee Seok-joon’s hand, which had grabbed his collar, chuckled softly, and waved his phone in front of him.

“I’ve recorded all of your vulgar conversation. Let’s meet at the personnel committee next week when you come to work.”

“What?”

“Excuse me, Team Leader Cha Shin-woo? No, wait a moment…”

“Hey! Cha Shin-woo!”

Hee-jin, who had unintentionally ended up eavesdropping on the situation, made eye contact with Cha Shin-woo as he turned around. Cha Shin-woo’s eyes, his head slightly tilted, flickered darkly.

“……!”

Hee-jin unknowingly bowed her head slightly towards Cha Shin-woo. Her face flushed as if she had done something wrong, and she immediately walked towards her booth.

________________________________________

The thought of a company-wide dinner for all the business trip attendees made it hard to focus on work, but thankfully, the Battery Business Division people who had gossiped about Hee-jin during the day went straight to the hotel.

As the dinner party grew livelier, Team Leader Cha Shin-woo’s gaze relentlessly followed Hee-jin.

She was grateful to Cha Shin-woo for what happened during the day, but she had no intention of actually taking the matter to the personnel committee. Even if General Manager Lee Seok-joon was in the wrong, given the authoritarian company atmosphere, the outcome was predictable.

Her heart was already in turmoil over the news of her ex-boyfriend’s marriage, and then she clearly heard what people were saying behind her back. It was one more reason to quit the company.

As her drunken colleagues got up together and headed to the convenience store en masse, a sharp glint appeared in Cha Shin-woo’s eyes. He, who had sat indifferently throughout the gathering, finally opened his mouth as if he had found something interesting.

“Ms. Song Hee-jin. How long are you going to keep drinking alone?”

Hee-jin, who was about to pour herself a shot of soju, flinched at Cha Shin-woo’s words and stopped her moving hand.

The embarrassing things people had said during the day echoed in her ears, and it seemed that drinking one shot was leading to another.

“Anyone would think you just went through a breakup today. Have you already had a whole bottle of soju by yourself? Give me the bottle. I’ll pour for you.”

The aftereffects of the breakup were still bothering Hee-jin, so Cha Shin-woo’s words weren’t entirely wrong. As Hee-jin slightly lowered her head and finished filling her glass with soju, downing it in one go, a crease formed on Cha Shin-woo’s perfect brow.

Hee-jin had already long surpassed her limit and glanced at Corporate Strategy Division General Manager Kim Tae-hwan, who was sprawled out on the table. General Manager Kim Tae-hwan, who was crazy about alcohol, had insisted on drinking soju until he passed out, even on a business trip.

“Have some appetizers.”

Shin-woo placed three pieces of perfectly grilled ribs on Hee-jin’s plate.

Hee-jin was at a loss, pausing for a moment at her superior’s excessive kindness in offering her food. It was a stark contrast to the vulgar insults he had hurled at the other department’s superior during the day.

“I’m not pressuring you to drink, so offering you appetizers shouldn’t be a problem, right? I’m not sure.”

Shin-woo chuckled softly and lightly tossed back the soju in his glass. Cha Shin-woo’s gentle smile felt out of place with his earlier behavior, making her feel uneasy.

“Thank you for the consideration.”

She didn’t know what position Cha Shin-woo held in the strategy department at JK Electronics, but he exuded an inexplicable air of leisure.

Was it dissatisfaction stemming from being demoted from JK Electronics, a company that was arguably the most coveted workplace for young Koreans in terms of competitive hiring rates, especially from the strategy department, which people with ordinary education and connections couldn’t even dream of, to JK Motors, which was clearly not up to par and even rumored to be facing business withdrawal? Cha Shin-woo emanated an arrogance that she had never felt from other superiors. The impression that he had nothing to lose at this company created a sense of unease.

Even just during the day. Of course, Hee-jin was grateful, but no matter how wrong the Battery Business Division people were, he had cursed at a general manager who was much older than him. It meant he didn’t care about getting on the bad side of a superior at JK Motors or anyone else. It was behavior Hee-jin couldn’t even imagine.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Pardon?”

“Those guys from earlier. I’ll hand over the recording to the personnel committee, so Assistant Manager Song Hee-jin doesn’t need to worry…”

“Ah, no, thank you.”

Even if his intentions were good, she didn’t want to escalate things. Hee-jin’s direct superior was Cha Shin-woo, but he was a temporary superior who would return to his original position at JK Electronics whenever they called him back.

There was no benefit in antagonizing a general manager who was much higher in rank than Cha Shin-woo. Right now, Cha Shin-woo was taking Hee-jin’s side, but it would be impossible for Hee-jin to face them alone after he was gone.

Since she had already decided to submit her resignation, it would be better to continue her company life quietly, at least until she found a new job.

“If you want to help, I would appreciate it if you would pretend not to know anything.”

The more relaxed Cha Shin-woo seemed, the more inexplicably anxious Hee-jin became. The more she tried not to be conscious of Cha Shin-woo, the more her attention was focused on him.

“I just want to live quietly until I resign.”

Out of some impulse, Hee-jin blurted out her intention to resign in front of her superior. Drinking because she was upset had made her far more intoxicated than she realized.

“Did you say you’re resigning?”

“Ah, no. I didn’t mean I’m going to do it right away, um… I mean later, later when I get old and retire, I want to live quietly, that’s what I meant.”

Hee-jin belatedly tried to recover from her slip of the tongue, sweating as she changed the subject.

“And thank you for taking my side during the day.”

Cha Shin-woo’s gaze, fixed on Hee-jin, shone sharply. His expression, as if he was reading her thoughts, made her neck flush.

“I wasn’t taking your side.”

Cha Shin-woo, who had been quietly observing Hee-jin’s features, uttered a languid remark.

“Pardon?”

“I’m interested.”

At Cha Shin-woo’s rambling words, Hee-jin blinked her large eyes like she had seen a ghost.

The gentle smile that Cha Shin-woo had shown just moments ago vanished in an instant. Like someone changing masks, a cynical look began to spread across Cha Shin-woo’s face.

“I wasn’t trying to help you, I was trying to look good. You know, appearing in a critical situation and saving the day. Did I look a little cool?”

“What are you talking about…?”

“What did you think? Act like you didn’t know all this time that I was interested in you.”

At Cha Shin-woo’s words, Hee-jin’s heart dropped with a thud. After her breakup, whenever she tried to be a loner because she didn’t want to attract attention, he would occasionally melt her vulnerabilities sweetly. The more she tried to distance herself from Cha Shin-woo, the center of attention, the more his interest seemed to follow her.

Hee-jin had suspected it but had tried hard to ignore it. They had only worked together for three months. She was just a temporary interest for Cha Shin-woo, who worked in the same department, a passing fancy like a spring breeze that would soon disappear, so there was no need to genuinely respond to his lighthearted interest.

Even though her colleagues had rushed out to the convenience store, Hee-jin was disgusted by his behavior of openly expressing interest while their superior was obviously passed out drunk beside them.

Hee-jin got the impression that Cha Shin-woo wasn’t much different from the many men who had asked her out as soon as she broke up with her ex-boyfriend. Of course, Cha Shin-woo’s looks were vastly different from those men.

“I’ve been looking at Assistant Manager Song Hee-jin all afternoon, even before the dinner party started. Why do you think I volunteered to come on this business trip? It must have been hard not to notice. It probably wasn’t easy to pretend not to know either. Are you just dense, or are you a good actress? Which one is it?”

Seeing Team Leader Cha Shin-woo volunteer to come on the business trip to the World Electric Vehicle Expo, which everyone avoided, leaving behind his busy work at headquarters, Hee-jin had briefly wondered what had gotten into him, as he usually seemed uninterested in company matters.

She never imagined that the reason would be Song Hee-jin herself…

“I’m sorry. I’ll get going now.”

She must be drunk. Cha Shin-woo’s eyes, which always seemed indifferent, looked darkly smudged today.

“Sit down. The reason you’ve been drawing a line with me since that day. What is it?”

“Team Leader, you should get going too…”

“Sit down.”

Hee-jin, who had been about to get up after tidying her handbag, awkwardly sat back down. She couldn’t bring herself to disobey his low, commanding tone.

“Since you keep avoiding me even when I try to create opportunities, I’ll just be direct. I’m interested in Ms. Song Hee-jin.”

At Cha Shin-woo’s words, the blood in Hee-jin’s entire body seemed to freeze. Hee-jin stared at Cha Shin-woo with wide eyes, wondering if she had misheard, but he remained nonchalant. Cha Shin-woo’s bright smile only confirmed that she had heard correctly.

Hee-jin turned her face away, avoiding Cha Shin-woo’s persistent gaze. Her face flushed, wondering if General Manager Kim Tae-hwan, who was smacking his lips in his sleep, had heard anything.

“That’s inappropriate.”

“How long are you going to keep pretending you don’t know?”

“Pretending I don’t know? What are you even talking about…”

“Someone who’s quite capable at company work. Are you telling me to believe you haven’t noticed a man’s feelings for you?”

Hee-jin briefly thought back over the past three months.

Hee-jin had also sensed the budding excitement between them, but she couldn’t acknowledge it.

Her ex-boyfriend had met someone new as soon as he broke up with Hee-jin, as if he had been waiting for it. Not wanting to become the same kind of person as him, Hee-jin had tried hard to draw a line, denying even the slightest bit of attraction she felt towards Cha Shin-woo.

If she had met Cha Shin-woo in a situation where a breakup wasn’t a prerequisite, he would have been a man close to her ideal type externally. However, her devastated heart, swept away by the waves of the breakup, was in no state to think about such things.

If he hadn’t been her direct superior, she might not have drawn such a cold line with him as he approached, but this was clearly the workplace. Hee-jin, who was already at the center of the rumors about her ex-boyfriend’s marriage, didn’t want to add another unnecessary topic of conversation.

The bored Cha Shin-woo was probably planning to pass his tedious time in this exile by engaging in some casual romance, but Hee-jin had no intention of betting her future on someone who was only staying here temporarily.

“Team Leader, I think you’ve had too much to drink.”

“No. I’ve been careful with my drinking so I could at least talk to Ms. Song Hee-jin.”

Hee-jin turned her gaze to Assistant Manager Kim Hye-mi and her group, who were returning from the convenience store with ice cream.

“Assistant Manager Hee-jin, where are you going?”

“I’ll head in first. I’m not feeling too well.”

“Already?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Should I take you if you’re not feeling well?”

“No, it’s just around the corner.”

Hee-jin waved her hand, saying she was okay, and gathered her belongings.

“Team Leader, you like green tea flavor, right?”

“You remember that?”

Leaving behind Cha Shin-woo, who was casually talking to his subordinates as if nothing had happened, Hee-jin got up from her seat as if fleeing.

“Of course, I remember. My memory is excellent. Here, have this hangover cure too.”

Fortunately, whether Hee-jin disappeared or not, people’s attention immediately turned to Cha Shin-woo.

She felt uneasy about leaving the company dinner at the business trip location before her superiors did, but all she could think about was getting out of that awkward atmosphere.

She hurriedly stepped outside the air-conditioned restaurant, and the warm night breeze intensified her drunkenness. What had happened inside the restaurant felt hazy, like a dream.

Tonight, the full moon looked unusually large. Even taking deep breaths of the humid air only made her chest feel more constricted.

Having left the restaurant, Hee-jin crossed the pedestrian crossing and entered the hotel. In the lobby of the H Hotel in Ilsan, she could see a few familiar faces of industry people she had seen at the expo during the day.

Song Hee-jin, twenty-seven years old. If there was one foolish choice in her life, it was getting into an office romance. Back in her early days at the company, when she knew nothing, the past Song Hee-jin had recklessly and casually engaged in a public office romance, and the future Song Hee-jin was now suffering the aftereffects.

Even though it was a place rumored to be facing business withdrawal, JK Motors was a large corporation that Hee-jin’s qualifications barely warranted her to join. There was no guarantee she could transfer to a company with similar conditions. The reason she had been hesitating to submit her resignation despite conflicting with herself a dozen times a day recently was precisely that. Of course, she had decided to quit because of what happened earlier that day, but whether she could easily find a new job as she had decided was another matter.

Stopping in front of the elevator, Hee-jin let out a long sigh. Team Leader Cha Shin-woo’s confident face still flickered in her mind, but she resolved to neatly fold away the lingering feelings for him, like a spring breeze that would disappear with the changing seasons.

“I wasn’t finished talking.”

But her relief was short-lived. Cha Shin-woo, who had somehow approached her unnoticed, murmured softly in Hee-jin’s ear.

Her heart pounded, and her face flushed crimson. The deepening intoxication made her vision spin.

She had run away, thinking she was walking fast, but it seemed the tall man with long strides had quickly caught up to her.

“Aren’t you going to bring General Manager Kim Tae-hwan too?”

The thought that Team Leader Cha Shin-woo and General Manager Kim Tae-hwan were the only men left at the dinner party came to her first. It wouldn’t be easy for the female employees to bring a drunken man to the hotel…

“Does that guy not have legs? The hotel is right there, he’ll come on his own.”

His tone, omitting the subject, was threatening, but Cha Shin-woo’s expression was strangely gentle, creating a dissonance. His behavior today was completely different from what she had seen of him at the company, making her feel uneasy.

“Don’t ride the elevator alone dangerously. What if someone takes you?”

“It’s so bright out here. That’s a ridiculous joke.”

“Why? It’s not a joke. Because I want to take you.”

He uttered the words like a joke, but this time, his eyes were deeply sinister, making it impossible to grasp his true intentions. However, what was certain was that she couldn’t just laugh at Cha Shin-woo’s open expression of interest in her.

Furthermore, knowing that he had clearly heard the other department’s men talking trash about her during the day, she couldn’t view Cha Shin-woo’s expression of interest in her on the same day favorably.

“I wish you would say such things when you’re sober. Although, even if you were sober, it wouldn’t change anything.”

“The sudden change of plans about having dinner together, is it perhaps because of your ex-boyfriend?”

Recalling what happened recently, she felt like she had been hit right on the mark, and her words caught in her throat. She had been miserably dumped by Section Chief Park Myung-ho, and for a moment, her rational judgment had been clouded.

Thinking that her ex-boyfriend Park Myung-ho might regret leaving and return if he saw her meeting another man, she had made plans for dinner with Cha Shin-woo, even though she knew it was a date invitation. She quickly came to her senses and canceled the plans, but it seemed Cha Shin-woo still held that matter in his heart.

Hee-jin avoided Cha Shin-woo’s question and stepped into the opening elevator. He followed closely behind her and once again hit the nail on the head.

“Are you perhaps still not over Section Chief Park Myung-ho? Are you having a secret affair with someone who’s about to become a married man? If so, then step back cleanly.”

Startled by Cha Shin-woo’s baseless words, Hee-jin denied it without thinking.

“No. I’ve completely moved on from Section Chief Park Myung-ho. Just hearing Park Myung-ho’s name makes me cringe… Ah!”

Hee-jin squeezed her eyes shut only after blurting out the words.

She made eye contact with Cha Shin-woo, who was smiling as if he had caught her, just like a suspect in an interrogation who had uttered incriminating words under leading questions.

“That’s good. So, what’s the problem?”

As soon as she joined JK Motors, Section Chief Park Myung-ho from the accounting team had actively shown interest in Hee-jin.

During her lonely early years in society, with no one to rely on, Hee-jin had unknowingly opened her heart, and before she knew it, she was in a relationship with him.

She had dreamed of a romantic future where her first love would lead to marriage, but that was her one-sided wish.

On their third anniversary, she received a unilateral breakup notice.

‘We’re not at the age to be thinking about marriage yet. Seeing you constantly singing about marriage suffocates me.’

‘That’s not what I meant by wanting to get married right away…’

Her first love was clumsy. She had only imagined a future with her lover, but she never knew that it would burden the other person.

‘I’m also sick of celebrating every anniversary – our 100th day, 1st year, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, White Day, Christmas. And even though I clearly went to a karaoke bar with the general manager at night, if I don’t contact you for a bit, it’s calls and texts, it’s like you’re putting a shackle on me. It’s also awful how you try to test me by saying you want to greet my parents, and I’m scared of you giving pocket money to my younger sibling. Sometimes you seem like a Misery.’

Hee-jin clung to Park Myung-ho, crying as if to prove his words, but in the end, Park Myung-ho turned away without looking back, saying he had lost all feelings for her.

Hee-jin felt disillusioned with a love she had given her all to. At the same time, she also blamed herself, wondering if she had been obsessive towards him because she, inexperienced in love, couldn’t control the size of her feelings.

And recently, news of Section Chief Park Myung-ho’s marriage had reached her. The partner was Deputy Manager Choi Joo-yeon from the accounting team. The man who said marriage was a burden was getting married just three months after meeting a new woman.

Hee-jin, who had been wetting her pillow every night due to the aftereffects of the breakup, had finally managed to stop crying. In the meantime, her ex-lover was blossoming in a new love.

The fact that the man who said she suffocated him was dreaming of marriage with another woman felt like it meant Song Hee-jin was undesirable as both a girlfriend and a wife.

She felt like her existence was being denied. Like a fool, Hee-jin had canceled her dinner plans with Cha Shin-woo, hoping Park Myung-ho would get jealous and return, and after that, she had drawn a line with Cha Shin-woo.

“I’m not interested in you, Team Leader.”

Hee-jin avoided Cha Shin-woo’s gaze and pressed the 18th-floor button in the elevator. Seemingly displeased with her, Shin-woo abruptly pressed the elevator’s emergency stop button and cornered Hee-jin against the wall.

With a clunk, the elevator stopped. The feeling was as if her rapidly beating heart had also stopped.

“You’re a good liar.”

“Pardon?”

“Your neck is red.”

“That’s inappropriate…”

Before she could point out that looking at a subordinate’s neck was inappropriate, even more inappropriate words landed on her.

Today, she was disgusted by the Battery Business Division people who gossiped about Hee-jin behind her back but acted all gentle in front of her. Cha Shin-woo spat out his dark intentions right in front of Hee-jin, as if telling her to listen clearly. He stood there confidently, spouting lewd remarks. It meant he was someone with nothing to hide.

Hee-jin touched her reddened neck with her fingers as if to cover it. With every word Cha Shin-woo uttered, she was put on the defensive.

“Why did you agree to a date at first with someone you dislike so much?”

“I didn’t agree to have a meal thinking it was a date.”

“What do you think is the reason for a man and a woman to go to the J Tower restaurant together? It’s a place I booked a month in advance to try and create a romantic atmosphere with Ms. Song Hee-jin.”

“I didn’t know you were thinking that.”

“Then, if it wasn’t a date, why did you suddenly say you couldn’t have dinner together?”

He acted relaxed and leisurely but then retorted sharply, making it impossible for her to make up excuses. Feeling like she couldn’t deny it any longer, Hee-jin spoke directly.

“As you might have heard earlier, I’m suffering from uncomfortable rumors these days. I don’t want to get involved in any more issues related to men at the company. I’m sorry.”

“So, it’s not that you dislike me, but you’re worried about what people will think. You’re going to live suppressing what you want to do because you’re afraid of rumors?”

“……”

What I want to do.

Yes, perhaps. Looking deep inside, maybe I do want to go on a date with a man like Cha Shin-woo.

But that’s only possible if he wasn’t my superior. It was a hypothetical situation that she might consider in the very distant future, after she had overcome the aftereffects of her breakup.

“Ms. Song Hee-jin. Answer me.”

Hee-jin blushed again, thinking of Section Chief Park Myung-ho. Even the man she had loved for three years had shamefully left her, saying she suffocated him. She could only imagine how messy things would get if she lightly dated a superior she had only known for three months.

Briefly biting her lip at his cutting reply, Hee-jin continued her sentence.

“Please don’t joke around. You should respect the other person’s opinion. Seeing you act like this now makes me even more certain that it was a great relief I didn’t go out with you back then.”

Feeling threatened, Hee-jin tried to push him away, but he lowered his gaze, placing both arms on either side of her face. For a moment, Hee-jin gazed at his long, dark, attractive eyelashes as if admiring them before lowering her own gaze.

Inside the stopped elevator, the atmosphere between the two became incredibly dense.

Breaking the taut tension, Shin-woo, who had trapped Hee-jin against the wall, tilted his head and smiled languidly.

“I respect Ms. Song Hee-jin too. And I want to keep respecting you.”

“Then please move.”

An excessively close distance. Cha Shin-woo’s eyes, slowly scanning Hee-jin’s features, stopped at her lips.

Catching Hee-jin’s pale face, Cha Shin-woo approached even closer, like a predator seizing an opportunity. Hee-jin held her breath tightly, as if suffocating in water.

“But the more I respect you, the further away you get. I’m even wondering if I should stop respecting you now.”

“Stop it. Do you want to be reported to the personnel committee for sexual harassment?”

She just wanted to get away. She had no intention of tolerating any more of the dirty business of getting involved with people at the company.

“Are you going to report me? You’re going to leave alone the bastards who make up lies about you behind your back and report me, who has feelings for you? You have very ambiguous standards. At least I’m not someone who cowardly mingles with those kinds of people behind your back.”

“Do you think I can’t report you?”

“No, you will. Report me. Let’s submit the recording of those bastards from earlier along with this incident. There’s CCTV in the elevator, so there will be plenty of evidence. In that case, I might as well get a kiss in before I get reported. I’d be less resentful.”

“W-what… did you say?”

Just as she was about to feel bewildered, Shin-woo grabbed the back of Hee-jin’s neck and pressed his lips to hers. Before she could feel any repulsion at her superior’s inappropriate kiss, a thrilling spark erupted on her lips.

Dark eyes that seemed to burn with unknown depths, large hands caressing her neck, a sophisticated fragrance that tickled the tip of her nose, and a dizzying sensation of electricity spreading through her.

While her mind screamed no, Hee-jin intertwined her tongue with Shin-woo’s tongue that was parting her lips.

Could the definition of a kiss she knew be wrong?

Could a kiss between a man and a woman be this sensual?

Hee-jin trembled at the intense sensation she was experiencing for the first time in her life. It definitely felt like the stopped elevator was falling without knowing its bottom.

Someone else’s flesh relentlessly invaded her inner self. Fireworks exploded through her capillaries at the gentle licking and piercing kiss on areas that shouldn’t be entered.

No. It was problematic to get involved with her superior any further. Even a sincere man could change overnight, saying her feelings were a burden. Cha Shin-woo, who was lightly trying to approach her at a workplace where he would only stay temporarily, was absolutely out of the question.

Logically, it was something that shouldn’t happen, but the lips touching hers were maddeningly electrifying. The bombardment of sensations spreading between their intertwined lips was a shocking feeling that could turn the world upside down, defying common sense.

Intoxicated by the intensely dizzying stimulation, Hee-jin momentarily forgot the improper situation.

She had to stop now. Hee-jin had clearly expressed that a kiss was not okay, and the other person was ignoring her wishes and giving her a surprise kiss. Gathering her mind, which had melted into the kiss, she logically sorted out the present situation.

Slap.

“Are you crazy?”

It was a rude word to say to a superior, but it wasn’t a situation where she could calmly collect herself. Her hand moved a beat late, but Cha Shin-woo, who had been slapped, smiled as if he hadn’t been affected at all.

“Crazy. Can’t you tell?”

Rather than being deterred by the slap, he pressed his lips even more fiercely against hers, as if it had been a trigger. Their explosive breaths and rapidly rising and falling chests ripened with a dizzying intensity.

The continuous movement of his bright red tongue entering and leaving her lips was lewd, like a metaphor for intercourse between a man and a woman. Even while directly facing that lewd metaphor, Hee-jin willingly allowed the coming and going of his tongue for a moment.

Cha Shin-woo’s kiss, intoxicated by the pleasure of the moment as if there was no tomorrow, deeply stained her body with a languid sensuality.

A man who looked like her perfect ideal type was relentlessly pushing in, leaving her no room to retreat. Her entire body went limp at Cha Shin-woo’s overwhelming breath, which even stole away her desire to escape.

Swallowing the embarrassment between her legs, which were getting wet from just the kiss, Hee-jin slapped Cha Shin-woo’s cheek once more.

Slap.

Cha Shin-woo, chuckling softly, took Hee-jin’s hand with unfocused eyes and intertwined their fingers.

“Fuck. Why is even the hand that hits me so pretty? I’d gratefully take even ten more.”

While barely standing on legs that felt like they would give way, he began to lick each of her intertwined fingers.

“Ah…”

It was her first time having a man lick her fingers, and the feeling was strange. At her suggestive nasal sound, his heavy frame, filling his suit tightly, pushed Hee-jin against the wall without any gap and continued the kiss.

She couldn’t break free from the man’s forceful actions according to her will, but the feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

She had spent each day agonizing over the retreating figure of her lover, who moved further away the more she approached. She hated her own clingy self that suffocated her lover, but her empty heart was lonely. However, Cha Shin-woo grabbed Hee-jin, who was retreating, and held her so she couldn’t escape.

Despite Cha Shin-woo’s own social standing, his reckless actions of charging forward without thinking, as if he didn’t care about being sued, made her body and mind sway precariously.

She hadn’t even been able to handle someone like Park Myung-ho, yet she felt overwhelmed with emotion as she pressed her lips against Cha Shin-woo, who was far out of her league.

Shin-woo, who had been roughly pressing his lips against hers, softly intertwined their mucous membranes. Their saliva mixed, and their breaths became one. Their breathing gradually stabilized, but her heart beat even faster.

“You can report me now.”

Cha Shin-woo, who had slowly withdrawn from the kiss, casually raised his eyebrows.

His large hand, which had been holding Hee-jin’s hand, fell away. Wiping his feverishly red lips with the back of his hand, he smiled contentedly. His bright smile made her heart flutter today.

“But do you know what? I’m not interested in a woman who can’t forget her ex-boyfriend either. It’s boring.”

Shin-woo, who had turned his back as if he had nothing to lose, pressed the elevator’s operation button again. With a clunk, the elevator began to ascend.

For a moment, her mind went completely blank.

She felt like she had been hit hard on the back of the head by his words that she still couldn’t forget her ex-boyfriend.

Did other people really think that? The moment she received the breakup notice was certainly shocking, but she no longer had any lingering feelings for Park Myung-ho, who was about to marry another woman.

Park Myung-ho, who had given Hee-jin the reason for the breakup, was cowardly. Recalling her own pathetic self, clinging to him abjectly, made her want to bang her head against the wall and die.

She had been feeling down lately because of the news of Park Myung-ho’s marriage, but it was because of thoughts about futile love, not because she wanted to meet him again.

Besides, if she hadn’t forgotten Park Myung-ho until now, Cha Shin-woo’s kiss couldn’t have been this electrifying. Surprisingly, Hee-jin’s heart was pounding with an excitement she was experiencing for the first time.

She had witnessed a dazzling lust that even overshadowed Cha Shin-woo’s inappropriate behavior.

The black and white world that had lost its color after she was miserably dumped began to shine beautifully in full color.

The passionate kiss that shook the world with carnal desire ended limply. She couldn’t grasp the desolate feeling of being left alone on a white sandy beach after a storm had passed.

‘You’re going to live suppressing what you want to do because you’re afraid of rumors?’

Cha Shin-woo’s muttered words, as if he couldn’t understand, echoed in her ears.

Swallowing her embarrassment and catching her breath, the elevator doors opened.

The moment Cha Shin-woo got off on the 16th floor and the doors were about to close.

Like someone possessed by a ghost, Hee-jin reached out her hand towards the elevator’s ‘OPEN’ button.